Assofermet, the association representing Italian distributors of scrap, raw materials and steel products, has expressed its disapproval regarding plans to keep steel scrap within the European Union in a press release published yesterday, March 24.
According to the new European Plan for Steel and Metals presented by the European Commission on March 19, as early as the third quarter of this year the EU will try to introduce containment measures for the phenomenon indicated as “scrap leakage”, i.e., the leakage of scrap flows outside the EU. Although admitting that the scrap demand in Europe is lower than the current availability of the material, the plan would like to keep the surplus within the EU territory.
Reminding that scrap exports are currently being restricted by the Waste Shipment Regulation, Assofermet said that the exports of 20 percent of the scrap generated in Europe each year outside the EU is not due to a so-called "leakage" of the material, but to the fact that European scrap consumption is lower than domestic supply because of a “structural failure of [industrial] production inside the EU."
Furthermore, as already reported by SteelOrbis, Assofermet stated that the plan is incomplete and too production-oriented, without any concrete measure that can stimulate greater consumption of steel and aluminum, thus reviving production itself.
The association noted, “Requiring […] to keep the surplus of ferrous scrap currently not absorbed by the EU steel industry on the European territory would result in the collapse of the recycling industry, the loss of jobs and will have a negative impact on the environment.”
Assofermet said it hopes that the plan will be reviewed and integrated with measures dedicated to research and development, the lowering of energy costs, the introduction of requirements for the inclusion of recycled material in industrial products and public projects, etc., in order to support the circular economy and the competitiveness of the European steel sector.